Herbert Giersch's work marks the reversal of previous approaches of neoliberals to issues of entrepreneurship. While Mises, Kirzner, Schmölders, and many others scrutinized the different constraints faced by entrepreneurs, Giersch turned the tables to emphasize the constraints that entrepreneurs themselves presented to regulators and other enemies of economic freedom at and beyond the scale of the region and nation. The long-time president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy was at the center of a newfound interest in global competitiveness, innovation, and locational dynamics. Unlike well-known figures such Michael Porter, Jeffrey Sachs, and Paul Krugman, Giersch has been unjustly forgotten in the Anglo-Saxon discussion of new growth economics and new economic geography.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 291